Buying shares-im new to all this

ollymonkeynuts

Ive got £200-300 to play with. I dont like risk taking but seeing Royal Bank of Scotland shares are currently about 25p surely for a long term investment investing in them would be a good idea?

Im sure the government wouldnt let the bank collapse and in 2-3 years theyll be worth 2-3times more at least??

Seems to me the Halifax share building facility would be good for me to use?

Any feedback is appreciated, PM's would be best, thanks in advance.

Olly

I,_Brian

RBS is currently at 14p a share - but you may find Lloyds (LLOY) or Barclays (BARC) offer a more attractive investment in terms of short-term pains - RBS is probably going to take a lot longer to recover and get their share price back up, as compared to the other two banks.

It's your call, though - if leaving your cash for 10-20 years then RBS should be a decent punt, but do be aware that you should never invest money you cannot afford to lose.

For investing I use SelfTrade though there are a number of different options. I use SelfTrade because it offers me greater flexibility on a few points than other systems which may be slightly cheaper.

Also, remember that all trades in UK shares are subject to a small stamp duty charge of 1%.

Hope that helps.